The Cryosat-2 spacecraft has produced its first major science result
Baku, December 21 (AZERTAC). Radar data from the European satellite has been used to make a map of ocean circulation across the Arctic basin.
Cryosat`s primary mission is to measure sea-ice thickness, which has been in sharp decline in recent decades.
But its ability also to map the shape of the sea surface will tell scientists if Arctic currents are changing as a result of winds being allowed to blow more easily on ice-free waters.
"Nobody really knows how the Arctic is going to behave as the ice retreats, but we do anticipate that significant changes will occur," said Dr Seymour Laxon, a Cryosat science team member from University College London, UK.
"This is just the first data, and it shows we now have the tool to monitor what is happening," he told BBC News.
Dr Laxon presented the first Cryosat result in San Francisco at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world`s largest annual gathering of Earth and planetary scientists.
The European Space Agency (Esa) satellite was launched in April.
It carries one of the highest resolution synthetic aperture radars ever put in orbit.
The instrument sends down pulses of microwave energy which bounce off both the top of the Arctic sea-ice and the water in the cracks, or leads, which separate the floes.
By measuring the difference in height between these two surfaces, scientists will be able, using a relatively simple calculation, to work out the overall volume of the marine ice cover in the far north.
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